Christchurch wins international animal studies conference

Christchurch, New Zealand, has won the international bid to host the Australasian Animal Studies Association (AASA) Conference in July 2019. It will be the first time the conference will be held in New Zealand and is set to bring 250 animal experts to Christchurch, most from Australia and other international research hubs. The successful bid was presented by associate professor Annie Potts, who along with Associate Professor Philip Armstrong is a co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies (NZCHAS) at the University of Canterbury, where the conference will be held. ChristchurchNZ Convention Bureau and Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) Business Events, through its Conference Assistance Programme (CAP), assisted the Canterbury team’s bid. Bureau manager Caroline Blanchfield said the conference was a prestigious event for Christchurch and the University and cemented the city’s position as one of the top three locations in the world for work in human-animal studies. “The New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies is highly respected internationally. Canterbury was one of the first universities anywhere to establish a research centre and undergraduate and graduate courses in this field,” she said. Professor Potts gave the recent keynote presentation at AASA 2017 in Adelaide, focusing on animals in disasters following her post-earthquake research in Christchurch. Professor Potts says the 2019 AASA conference in New Zealand will have a strong emphasis on Maori and other indigenous perspectives on human-animal relations. “We will also cover such diverse subjects as animals in popular culture, the link between social violence and animal abuse, the rise of veganism worldwide, and the demonisation of introduced animals in Aotearoa and elsewhere. “We look forward very much to sharing our friendly and resilient city with conference delegates, as well as showcasing the beautiful environments around Canterbury, including Lyttelton, Akaroa, Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs,” Professor Potts added.